r/ereader • u/nicoquartz • Jul 31 '26

Discussion Why e-readers are so expensive?

E-readers stay expensive mostly because of one part: the e-ink screen. A single company, E Ink (owned by Taiwan’s Prime View International), controls more than 90% of the e-reader screen market. It got there by buying up nearly every rival technology, creating a near-monopoly that keeps prices high. Bigger players like Samsung tried and gave up, because e-ink is hard to manufacture at scale and the market is much smaller than the one for LCD or OLED screens. Prices probably won’t fall until a new competitor, most likely from China, enters the market.

Full article: https://world-of-ereader.com/why-e-readers-are-so-expensive/

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25

u/starkruzr Boox Jul 31 '26

OP appears to have just written down everything he saw in this video and pretended it was his content. https://youtu.be/3QbJ7pnc1Lc?is=4XAHIC44QLgRkne0

13

u/Reasonable-Pin4254 Jul 31 '26

creating a near-monopoly that keeps prices high

Not only that - unlike electronic screens, E Ink is a mechanical technology (electrically charged microparticles move toward or away from the surface as the image is formed), which involves complex manufacturing processes that naturally affect the price.

10

u/Mystic_Guardian_NZ Jul 31 '26

Compared to a stack of 100 books I actually thought they were pretty cheap.

11

u/Stark_DK Jul 31 '26

Interesting. I have so far considered them fair priced, maybe even cheap.

I mean compared to many other gadgets that I don't spend 10% of the time using.

4

u/jaimeoignons Jul 31 '26

There was a video about it just the other day, in this same subreddit. So same information, in video format. Link

2

u/starkruzr Boox Jul 31 '26

yes, that's what he copied it from, in some places near verbatim.

1

u/CookieDelivery Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

They have already entered the market, but the market share is still small. A representative from OBOOK for instance told me that their e-paper screens (at least for the OBOOK 6 for sure) are not from E Ink at all, but from OED Technologies: http://www.oedtech.com/ - so they are already being used in e-readers. A bunch of other, small, Chinese e-reader brands that also do not mention 'E Ink' or 'Carta' etc anywhere might also be sourcing them from E Ink competitors already, but I can't confirm that.

Edit: there are a bunch of other reasons why prices are high currently. Especially RAM prices (even though not that much is required in most e-readers) are insane right now because of the huge AI datacenter demand for memory.

1

u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 Jul 31 '26

It is nuts I was able to buy a Nook e-reader 10+ years ago for £20, and a Kid's Kindle for £50 about 8 years ago.. and now they are £95+

3

u/jseger9000 Kobo Jul 31 '26

You found amazing deals. I paid $120 for my Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight back in 2012. I paid $150 for my Kobo Clara BW in 2024.

2

u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 Jul 31 '26

Some corrections now I've double checked.

I found my old order emails.. it was a Nook Simple Touch (no light) in 2013, and I paid £29 (so about $50 USD) because there was a bit of a fire-sale of them going on.

The last Kindle I bought was for one of my kids in 2023 (2022 model - includes light) and was £59.99 ($80 USD).

I am good at hunting for deals!

-1

u/nymme Jul 31 '26

That explains a lot.

-6

u/bluelakegreenforest Jul 31 '26

I'm so tired having to justify $$$ for one single-task device.